Autonomous Authors and Extraneous Editors
How to be a good editor to an independent author
I recently assisted in editing a photobook for a student in the photography program. When the project started, things were quiet. I waited for my author to send something — anything — for me to edit. But I quickly realised this author was comfortable working alone.
As the deadline crept closer, I became anxious about how little actual editing work I had done. I had waves of despair anticipating receiving everything at the last minute. I had insecurities about feeling superfluous to the project (after all, it’s their work, and what am I doing hanging around like a third wheel anyway?). Then all too sudden, the deadline was three days away.
I have come to understand the role of the editor is much like a spare tyre. For the most part, your job is to wait until you’re needed. But when that time comes, you’d better be ready and reliable.
So, instead of telling you that everything in the editing process will work out as planned, here’s what you can actually do as an editor when working with an independent author:
1. Prepare, prepare, prepare
When the time comes, you’re going to need to act quickly, so now is the time to do all the preparation. Compile your style sheet for basic editorial decisions like the treatment of dashes, use of italics and capitalisation preferences. Sure, you may have nothing to add to your word list, and the decisions you make may be redundant, but nevertheless you’ll have it ready.
Create your proofreading checklist! Proofreading is hard at the best of times, as our brains like to circumnavigate what we see on the page and fill in the gaps. Having a checklist of basic things to go through individually like page numbers, alignment and spacing, will be vital.
Check your software is updated. There is nothing worse than trying to open a PDF sent at the last minute, ready for markup, and Adobe Cloud helpfully telling you that it’s time for an update. This may sound silly, but trust me — if this happens, you will be cursing yourself that you didn’t sort this out sooner.
2. Check in with your author
Even if they don’t need your help right now, it’s nice for them to know that you’re still there. A friendly, ‘Hey, here if you need anything!’ is good to remind them that you still exist, even though you want to add, ‘Please send me anything you have so far, please, PLEASE, I am begging you’.
Some gentle prodding about deadlines is necessary, although must be treated with caution. We don’t want to scare the author away.
You have to let them do it on their own, and — for better or worse — let the chaos happen.
3. Gird your loins
Sure, you set up your timeline at the beginning of the project. You allowed yourself ample buffer time before the deadline, added a few days here and there for correspondence, and perhaps even thought you could get the edit completed a week in advance (how foolish of us). But I’m going to let you in on a secret: no one adheres to deadlines. Yes, a timeline is crucial to set up with your author to map out the project. But a tiny part of you has to become accustomed to the fact that this timeline will get thrown out the window almost immediately.
Instead of fretting about missed deadlines, writing emails reminding your author about what’s due when, your eye starting to twitch and your hair a frazzled mess, you need to do something courageous: you have to embrace the chaos. There is, quite simply, nothing that can be done. You can’t write (or photograph) the book for them. You can’t drive to their house and bind them to a chair to get them to finish it. I’m sure we all hope that each experience an author has with an editor prepares them better for the one to come. But you have to let them do it on their own, and — for better or worse — let the chaos happen.
4. Batton down the hatches
Now that you have embraced the chaos (how’s that going, by the way?) and accepted (hah!) that things will be submitted at the last minute, you need to prepare for battle. Those distinct editing stages everyone taught you of structural editing, copyedits and proofreads? Not relevant here, my friend. You’re going to have to do everything at once.
Do whatever you can to clear your schedule the week/days/hours before the deadline. It’s going to come down to crunch time, and when it does, you’ll need to make the most of every second.
Find a way to hit that send button, knowing you have done everything you could reasonably be expected to do.
5. Let go
Getting things at the last minute doesn’t mean you can’t try to restore some semblance of order for yourself. You can still work through the piece with the different editing stages in mind. But when things are left this late, you’re going to have to let things go. I know that is hard for us editor types, who often like things neat and organised and perfect. But it’s going to happen — you’re going to miss things. There simply isn’t enough time to catch every single thing, and you need to be ok with that. You have to find a way to hit that send button, knowing you have done everything you could reasonably be expected to do.
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Your role is to be there in the background, waiting for your author to call upon you as needed.
Being an editor can be frustrating. There are times you want to take over the project, or grab your author by the lapels and ask, ‘Why are you doing this to me?!’ Resist those urges. It will be ok. It will get done.
My editorial insight after completing this project is that you have to leave authors be. Even if it hurts. Even if it’s frustrating — especially if it’s frustrating. Your role is to be there in the background, waiting for your author to call upon you as needed. And when they do, you need to be ready. At the end, maybe you’ll even find that you kind of relished the chaos. Congratulations — that’s part of the gig.
